Conversion from normal form to “nai” form. Just change the last character (Third Character) to the (First Character). If you refer to the Pronunciation Section, you will know what I mean by First & Third Character. 5 characters in each category : ie. (1)Ka (2)Ki (3)Ku (4)Ke (5)Ko

So far we have learned how to convert to “~masu” & “~katta” form. Today I will show you how to convert into “~te” form. “Te” is use in connection with the following words :

~te can be used for combination of 2 adjectives. Example : Yasui Desu. Oishii Desu. (Cheap. Delicious) – Yasukute oishii desu. Other usage will be :

Tabete kudasai (Please Eat) – Requesting
Tabete imasu (Eating) – Similar to the “~ing” in English
Tabete arimasu (I have been eaten) – Something has been done
Kaite okimasu (I have wrote it) – Do something in advance / in preparation
Tabete mimasu (Eat and see) – Trying something and see how is the result
Tabete shimaimashita (I have completely eaten) – To imply something which is completed
Tabete ikimasu (Go and eat) – Saying something that is going to happen
Tabete hoshii (Want to eat) – Wanted to do something

I will cover each usage above later after this lesson on how to convert normal form to ~te form

Today I will cover some new word which use the combination of “Dochira (Which)” & “To (And)”

Q : Which one is longer between pencil and pen? – Enpitsu to / dewa pen to, dochira no hou ga nagai desu ka?
A : The pencil is longer than the pen – Enpitsu no hou ga pen yori nagai desuMeaning : To (And), Yori (than), No Hou Ga (use to describe the one that is better) – ie. Watashi no hou ga wakai desu (I am younger). “No” must be use follow by “Hou Ga”

Q : Which one do you like between Japanese food & Western food – Washoku to youshoku to, dochira no hou ga suki desu ka?
A : I like Japanese food more – Washoku no hou ga suki desuMeaning : Washoku (Japanese Food), Youshoku (Western Food), Suki (Like)

Some meaning of the words were covered previously, so I won’t be repeating it. I also include Hiragana / Katakana for easy reference (for those who has master hiragana / katakana). If you have not, visit Pronunciation session for more info.

Most Japanese Language Center teaches their student on the “polite form” such as “masu”, “desu”, etc. But even though they can master the “polite form”, they may not be able to understand what the Japanese is communicating because they are using an “inpolite form” or “friends-talk”.

Japanese uses different way of conversation depending on who they are talking to. If they are talking to a person who they respect such as bosses, senior, new friends, etc, they would use the “polite form” like “wakarimasu“, “shimasu“, “kakimasu“. If they are talking with close friends, family members, subordinates or someone who should respect them, then the words they use will be totally different like “wakaru”, “suru” and “kaku”. See, the “masu” is gone now !!!

Form others word such as verbs where we use convert from normal to “masu” such as tsutsumimasu, wakarimasu, kakimasu and so on that I have covered previously. For non-polite way, we don’t need to convert it to “masu form” and we use tsutsumu, wakaru, kaku and so on.

Remember, for female, dont ever use “boku” and “ore” as they are use by male only.

Some sentences shown above have a “yo” at the end and this is only some sort of expression like what I have teached earlier for “ne”. “Boku no da” and “Boku no da yo” are the same meaning but most of the time the Japanese will add a “yo” behind to show deeper expression on the sentence.

Hope it is not too confuse. Go back to all previous lessons and try to convert them to “Inpolite” or “Normal Form” yourself. This way, you will be able to master this very quickly.